[mmaimcal] FYI: 3 July 2006 BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO

Thu Jul 13 18:37:22 EDT 2006

Folks

Corrections, comments, criticisms? Thanks

Al

                    BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
                          3 July 2006 - 17 July 2006

******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT****************************
NINS (National Institute of Natural Sciences, Japan) Agreement:  NINS
President Yoshiro Shimura signed the ALMA agreement 2006 July 4. This
marks the beginning of the trilateral ALMA project.  The ALMA Board, in
its meeting in Chile in mid-June, had recommended that ALMA funding
agencies sign the document.  ALMA officially becomes The Atacama Large
Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) when all parties sign.  The ALMA
Board approved a new standard description of ALMA for the trilateral
project--Revised ALMA Standard Description:

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international
astronomy facility, is a partnership between Europe, Japan and North
America in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded in
Europe by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), in Japan by the
National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) in cooperation with the
Academia Sinica in Taiwan and in North America by the U.S. National
Science Foundation (NSF) in cooperation with the National Research
Council of Canada (NRC). ALMA construction and operations are led on
behalf of Europe by ESO, on behalf of Japan by the National Astronomical
Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) and on behalf of North America by the
National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which is managed by
Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI).

ALMA Board approval: 2006-03-24
Effective: 2006-07-01
----------------------------------------------------------------------
On 29 June, Eduardo Donoso reported the completion of the first ALMA
antenna pad, at the Vertex Site Erection Facility adjacent to the future
OSF using an EIE foundation design.  This is pad # 5 at the Vertex Site.
Congratulations Eduardo and Team ALMA!   Many others will follow and
within a year these foundations will begin to sprout the antennas from
which ALMA science will eventually blossom!
Photo:
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMAVxFdn5done.jpg
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The ALMA Camp Recreation Room was finished on time and on budget.  An
inauguration party was held on July 4Th, also celebrating Independence
Day (US).
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMARecCenter.mov
----------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------
At the time of the last biweekly calendar, the full language of the
US House funding bills was not yet available.  It is now.
>From http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/R?cp109:FLD010:@1(hr520):
-------MRE and ALMA words--------
The Committee recommendation includes requested funding for five
continuing projects, as follows: $47,890,000 for Atacama Large Millimeter
Array (ALMA); $27,400,000 for EarthScope; $28,650,000 for the IceCube
Neutrino Observatory; $42,880,000 for the Scientific Ocean Drilling
Vessel; and $9,130,000 for South Pole Station Modernization. In addition,
the recommendation includes initial funding for three new project starts,
as follows: $56,000,000 for the Alaska Region Research Vessel; $13,500,000
for the Ocean Observatories Initiative; and $11,800,000 for the National
Ecological Observatory Network. The recommendation does not include
$3,000,000 requested to reimburse the Judgment Fund of the U.S. Treasury.

The Committee is aware that the NSF has recently completed a detailed
re-examination of the ALMA project. The United States' cost for
completing the new baseline is estimated to be 45 percent higher than
originally projected. Although a part of the increase is due to rising
labor and material costs, some of these new liabilities are the result
of management problems, in particular, the lack of partner integration
and centralized decision making that can potentially cause cost growth.
While the recommendation includes the full request for the ALMA project
for 2007, the NSF is directed to submit a report to the Committee by
October 1, 2006, on how it intends to correct the overall management
and project issues. In the event that there are additional ALMA funding
requirements in fiscal year 2007, the Committee expects NSF to submit a
reprogramming of funds from lower priorities or new starts in accordance
with the procedures set forth in section 605 of this Act.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ALMA is not funded by ALMA, of course, but SOFIA is an instrument
which we expect will execute synergistic science.  There are words on
this facility also:
---------NASA------------
The Committee understands that NASA is in the process of reviewing the
future course of action on the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared
Astronomy (SOFIA). The Committee encourages NASA to propose a reallocation
of funding through the regular reprogramming process should this review
result in a continuation of the program.

And the results of the review are in as in the biweekly report:
The world's largest airborne astronomical observatory has passed a
technical and programmatic review that could potentially lead to the
continuation of the mission.  NASA's Program Management Council concluded
that there were no insurmountable technical or programmatic challenges
to the continued development of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared
Astronomy (SOFIA). The agency has developed a technically viable plan to
proceed with the development of the SOFIA aircraft, subject to the
identification of appropriate funding offsets.
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/jun/HQ_06240_SOFIA_update.html
---------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Past issues of this Calendar may be viewed at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html
See also the JAO ALMA Calendar overview at:
http://www.alma.cl/alma_project
***************************************************************************
General Happenings
Sky:  Full moon, 10 July (exact at 11:02 p.m. EDT).

OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): The first antenna pad,
No 5 at the Vertex Site Erection Facility, has been completed.
The ALMA Camp Recreation Room was completed on time and on budget on 4 July.

AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): From 3-7 July, the APEX
facility has seldom registered more than 1mm of PWV.

***************************************************************************
DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT ) see
https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar
 Mon  3 Jul NRAO Holiday
 Tue  4 Jul NRAO Holiday
 Wed  5 Jul
11:00 am ASAC telecon
 Thu  6 Jul
 Fri  7 Jul
 Sat  8 Jul
 Sun  9 Jul
 Mon  10 Jul
 Tue  11 Jul Full Moon
10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon
4:00 PM-5:00 PM: NAScienceIPT teleconference (open to all interested
                                 parties) (434)296-7082
 Wed  12 Jul
 Thu  13 Jul
11:00 AM EDT: Calibration Group Telecon
 Fri  14 Jul
 Sat  15 Jul
 Sun  16 Jul
 Mon  17 Jul
****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS ****************************
 Jul 25-26                       FE face-to-face        CV
 Jul 27-28       all day         FE LO CDR              CV
 Aug 2                           ASAC Telecon
 Aug 3                           ALMA Board Telecon
 Aug 8-9                         B7 cartridge CDR       Grenoble
 Aug 28                           Move of PSI to ATF
 Sept 16-17      all day         ASAC face-to-face      Arcetri
 Sept 22-23      evening         Dave Matthews Band     CV JPJ Arena opening
 November 9-10 	 all day 	 ALMA Board Meeting 	Madrid 	TBD
 Nov 13-16    all day Science with ALMA: a new era for Astrophysics Madrid
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS ****************************

******************************ALSO OF INTEREST*****************************
ALMA has openings for Head of Science Operations, Head of Technical
Services, and Head of Administration.  Please see:
http://www.nrao.edu/administration/personnel_office/careers.shtml
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
***************************************************************************
Please send information for upcoming calendars by Friday evening of the
preceding biweekly period to Jennifer Neighbours or Al Wootten via e-mail
(jneighbo at nrao.edu or awootten at nrao.edu).

The calendar will be issued between late Friday and sometime on Monday by
e-mail to all NRAO scientific staff members and anyone else interested.
A specific mailing list, alma-info, has been created for anyone wishing
to receive it.
Past issues are available at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html